by Pink Lady
Wondering why such a high percentage of Boston and Cambridge boys are sporting moustaches these days? Is it because the moustache is the new hipster beard? No – well, maybe yes, but that’s not the only reason. It’s because they’re participating in Movember a campaign to raise funds and awareness about cancers that affect men. Seems less creepy now, doesn’t it?

We LUPEC ladies believe that it is every man’s secret wish to someday grow a moustache. Just for a minute, just to see. Movember harnesses that desire challenging men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing one for a good cause. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.

Tonight a good group of Boston and Cambridge boys will be throwing a big party fundraiser at Toro which you will not want to miss for the following reasons:

2. Special Canadian Club cocktails will be served, all delightful libations created by lovely and talented barmen like Andy McNees, Nick Korn, and Chris Olds. They boast amazing names such as the Stiff Upper Lip, the Peach Fuzz, the Milk Moustache and more.

3. There will be delicious delightful complimentary snacks.

4. There will be a raffle featuring amazing prizes including Red Sox tix, gift certificates to some of Boston’s best restaurants, Canadian Club (so you can recreate those fabulous cocktails at home) and more.

5. Groove to the musical stylings of TJ the DJ and his moustache-themed mix (we can’t wait to hear what that means.)

The party begins at 10 p.m. at Toro. Click here for more details. To learn more about Movember and support our boys with a donation online, click here.

And if you can’t make the party, mix up one of these and raise a glass to our boys in moustaches (after you donate, of course)!

*LUPEC Boston’s latest ruminations, in case you missed ‘em in this week’s Dig.

The LUPEC Boston Tiki Bash is this Saturday! To gear up for the big event, we’ve been introducing readers to the fabulous and exotic tiki cocktails they’ll have a chance to sample at our shindig. Guests will have a chance to try the Mai Tai and the Fogcutter, two cocktails that date back to the early days of tiki in the 1940s. We’ll also be serving drinks from the opposite end of the tiki cocktail spectrum, like the Painkiller, which was invented in the 1970s.

As many cocktail aficionados will agree, the ’70s were a pretty bleak time for the American bar. The favored cocktails of the era were little more than spirit, juice and maybe a little liqueur served on the rocks. This was also the era of powdered sour mix and preservative-filled, pre-fab mixers, meaning that many of the delicious tiki drinks invented in earlier decades were declining in quality. But somewhere in the West Indies, a tiny bar accessible only by boat was mixing up a cocktail with a high-test brand of Navy rum called Pusser’s that was particularly popular with sailors, dubbed the “Painkiller.”

The Painkiller was invented by a British gal named Daphne Henderson, who owned the Soggy Dollar Bar, so named because guests had to swim ashore to it, inevitably drenching the contents of their wallets on the way. The bar offered a clothesline on which guests could hang their dollars as they knocked back cocktails. Daphne’s drink was wildly popular, but she was very secretive about the recipe, even to her close friend, a sailor and entrepreneur named Charles Tobias. Frustrated by her secrecy, Tobias took matters into his own hands one fateful Sunday afternoon, and stole away with a drink—through the surf, to his boat and back to his home kitchen on the island of Tortola, where he eventually figured out the recipe.

About a decade later, Tobias obtained the rights and all the blending information, and sought to resurrect the Pusser’s brand. Once issued daily to members of the British Royal Navy, a decree from the Admiralty Board abolished the practice in 1970, leaving the brand dormant until Tobias breathed new life into it in 1980.

You can try LUPEC’s take on this delicious coconut concoction at the Tiki Bash this Saturday. Or give it a run-through at home with Tobias’ recipe.

PAINKILLER

2 oz Pusser’s rum

1 oz Coco Lopez

4 oz pineapple juice

1 oz orange juice

Shake ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Strain over ice into a tall glass. Garnish with nutmeg.

CIN-CIN!

PURCHASE TICKETS TO THE LUPEC BOSTON TIKI BASH ONLINE AT THEBOSTONSHAKER.COM, GRAND IN SOMERVILLE, TORO IN THE SOUTH END, DRINK IN FORT POINT, TRINA’S STARLITE LOUNGE IN SOMERVILLE, OR BUCKAROO’S MERCANTILE IN CAMBRIDGE. VISIT LUPECBOSTON.COM FOR MORE DETAILS.

*LUPEC Boston’s latest ruminations, in case you missed ‘em in this week’s Dig.

by Pink Lady

Regular readers of our column or blog are well aware of LUPEC’s mission to “breed, raise and release endangered cocktails into the wild,” spreading great stories, lore and cocktail history whenever we can. But another main initiative of this group is to give back to our community. Fabulous as we may be, most members of our little club will never be in a position to donate a wing to a local hospital or community center. Instead, we fundraise in the best way we know how: by throwing dress-up cocktail parties. We’ve raised over $20,000 for local women’s charities this way since our group’s inception in 2007.

Our first event was a 1920s-themed speakeasy held on a clandestine riverboat permanently docked in the Boston Harbor, and it benefited Jane Done Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. Last year, we threw a 1940s-themed USO-style variety show with swing dancing, burlesque and live comedy to benefit women at the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans. This year, we’re planning a tiki bash of epic proportions.

On November 14th, we will transform the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts into a 1950s-themed tiki party featuring retro libations and canapés provided by Toro, Green Street, the Franklin Café and more. Island Creek Oysters will be on-hand shucking delicious “Duxbury pearls” and the Boston Derby Dames will skate around with sweets provided by Taza Chocolate. Through the Keyhole Burlesque, ukulele master Uke Springsteen, DJ Brother Cleve and other live acts will entertain. Tickets, a wallet-friendly $35 in advance/$45 at the door, are on sale now.

Why tiki in November? Why not? With exotic décor and whimsical cocktails, a night at Trader Vic’s or Don the Beachcomber’s offered un-ironic escapism in its heyday, a flavor-packed counterpoint in the era of vodkatinis and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. As tiki expert Jeff “Beach Bum” Berry told the Washington Post earlier this year, “A tiki bar was where the mid-century Organization Man went to escape his white-collar job, his big mortgage and the threat of nuclear annihilation.”

With a long cold winter on the horizon, we Bostonians could use a little escapism, too.

THE HAWAIIAN ROOM

FROM THE HAWAIIAN ROOM OF THE HOTEL LEXINGTON, NYC, CIRCA 1940S

ADAPTED FROM JEFF BERRY & ANNENE KAYE’S BEACHBUM BERRY’S GROG LOG

0.5 oz fresh lemon juice

0.5 oz unsweetened pineapple juice

0.5 oz Applejack

0.5 oz triple sec

1 oz light Puerto Rican rum

Shake well with plenty of ice cubes. Strain into a cocktail glass.

CIN-CIN!

PURCHASE TICKETS TO THE LUPEC BOSTON TIKI BASH ONLINE AT THEBOSTONSHAKER.COM, GRAND IN SOMERVILLE, TORO IN THE SOUTH END, DRINK IN FORT POINT, TRINA’S STARLITE LOUNGE IN SOMERVILLE, OR BUCKAROO’S MERCANTILE IN CAMBRIDGE. CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS.